CJ sent in an e-mail asking:“Is David Wright worth a big contract? Don’t get me wrong, I love Wright and home grown talent, but I’m not sure signing him to a long term big contract gets the Mets anywhere closer to winning it all. He can’t carry a team, he’s a great complementary player, but not a “Piazza”. So I say trade him, and then sign someone like Josh Hamilton.”

Matthew Cerrone, Lead Writer

I’ll get to Wright, who may be worth his next contract based solely on what he does for this franchise from a message, stability and marketing point of view. But, first, let me say there is no way the Mets should or will sign Hamilton. I admire Josh’s fight, story and struggle, but his history would be cause for concern in New York. Plus, he has a lot of mileage on his body and life, he’s an old 31 in my book, and I don’t see him ever living up to the massive, long-term contract he’s likely to get from the Rangers. I’d much, much rather Wright on this team in this city for a slightly less expensive contract.

Now, I know what you mean when you say, ‘Wright is a complementary player.’ I get it. I don’t agree, but I understand what you’re saying and why. The thing is, Wright is actually responsible for about the same percentage of his team’s run production as Hamilton is for Texas. In other words, in the context of the Mets, right now, Wright is Hamilton. The problem, however, is Wright is NOT surrounded by Texas’s offense, which sort of gets back to your point, CJ…

Basically (and this going to sound obvious), if the Mets keep surrounding Wright with Quadruple-A and part-time players and a constant revolving door of youngsters trying to find their way, it will not matter what he’s paid or how his advanced statistics stack up to other team’s stars. You will be disappointed in Wright, because we’ll all be disappointed in the Mets. However, if Sandy Alderson surrounds Wright with “better,” every-day hitters, whether they develop from within or come in by trade or free agency, even if they’re not the game’s most expensive players, if the team scores runs as a unit, I think you’ll go back to loving Wright (probably like you did in 2006, 2007 and 2008, when he better players around him).

In other words, with their promising young pitching, and RA Dickey, I think Wright (at $20 million a year) and the Mets will be fine over the next few years, so long he, Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy are backed up by three outfielders who can actually hit and drive in runs.